The fluorescence quantum yield of the DNA/SYBR Green I complex (~0.8) is over five times greater than that of the DNA/ethidium bromide complex (~0.15).

Gels can be precast with SYBR Green I; however, the greatest sensitivity is achieved with post-staining.

The presence of SYBR Green I bound to DNA does not inhibit the activity of many common restriction endonucleases, including Hind III and EcoR I.1,2 SYBR Green I does not need to be removed for in-gel digestion and ligation techniques.

Detection limits in gels

Detection limit is ~60 pg per band with 300 nm transillumination (down to 20 pg with 254 nm epi-Illumination). This sensitivity is 25 times greater than can be achieved with ethidium bromide using standard 300 nm transillumination.

SYBR Green I can also be used to detect single-stranded DNA and RNA in denaturing agarose/formaldehyde and polyacrylamide/urea gels without any prewashing steps, although the sensitivity is lower (approximately 100 to 300 pg per band using 254 nm epi-illumination).

SYBR Green I is also a very sensitive stain for oligonucleotides, allowing for detection of as little as 1-2 ng of a synthetic 24-mer on a 5% polyacrylamide gel, which is 50-100 times greater sensitivity than obtained with ethidium bromide.

Staining agarose gels with SYBR Green I does not interfere with the transfer of nucleic acids to membranes or subsequent hybridization in Southern or Northern blot analysis as long as 0.1% -0.3% SDS is included in prehybridization and hybridization buffers to remove the dye.